Waking Up
by Desdemona
Summary: While the world is being destroyed, while friends and companions are being lost, while good and evil prepare for the great battle--Tifa Lockheart comes to terms with her father's death and her own chosen path. COMPLETED
1. Jealousy

Tifa tossed and turned on the musty mattress. Really, she grumbled to herself, just because Cait Sith got these rooms for free didn't mean they had to be this uncomfortable. On top of that, she simply wasn't tired. With an impatient sigh, she flipped out of bed, and wandered over to the window. Rain lashed against the panes; lightning bolts brightened up the dark night. The gaudy lights and flamboyant architecture of the park were just this side of tacky, and looked very sad and forsaken against the violent night sky.  
  
The lightning flashed again. For a brief moment, the entire park was flooded with light--just enough light for Tifa to see two familiar figures running through the graveyard in front of the hotel. They disappeared almost immediately into one of the tombstone shoots, but Tifa knew who they were.  
  
Cloud and Aeris. Already sorry she had gone to the window, she returned to bed and tried to forget them. But it was no good. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself that there was nothing between Cloud and Aeris, no matter how many times she laughed off her feelings for Cloud as a childhood infatuation, it was never any good. Tifa hadn't cried since she was fifteen, and found her father dead in the Nibelheim reactor, but suddenly she started sobbing. Surprised at her lack of self-control, she buried her head in her pillow to muffle the sound. Imagine if the others heard her--she was supposed to be the tough one, the kick-ass one, the one who ground people twice her size into dust without even smudging her mascara. Well, she thought ruefully, it's sure smudging now.  
  
For a long time, she vented her rage and helplessness into her soaking wet pillow. Perhaps it was jealousy that made her cry so much, or maybe it was simply the knowledge that no matter what she did, she wasn't good enough. Ever since Cloud had come to rescue her with Aeris at his side, she had replaced counting sheep with fantasizing various ways for Aeris to die. At first she hadn't known what caused this incredible dislike towards a perfectly nice girl. After all, Cloud was just a friend, and if he wanted Aeris, well....  
  
But when he insisted on breaking into the Shinra headquarters to rescue Aeris, Tifa had known what was wrong--SHE loved Cloud. After that startling realization came another one--she meant nothing to Cloud, especially next to that green-eyed, half-human, planet-saving, Cloud-stealing Cetra. But I could love her too. It wasn't fair! Nothing was fair, of course, but this went beyond unfair. For the first time, Tifa had known exactly what she wanted, but he's already taken. The injustice of life was too much.  
  
Her tears finally did what her sleeping pills couldn't--Tifa fell asleep. Hours later, when Cid's frantic pounding on her door awoke her, she remembered only one thing from her dreams--in each, she had looked down to find her hands covered in blood.  
  
She sat up with a start. She could hear Cid calling along the hallway. Groggily, she rose and stuck her head out the door. Cid rushed over, and leaned, panting, against the doorframe.  
  
"There's been a little trouble with the Keystone," he said, still catching his breath. "If y'could come down for jus' a second..."  
  
"What's happened?" Tifa heard the anxiety laced through the pilot's voice, and it put her on edge.  
  
"Not important....well, yeah, it's important. Just get your ass downstairs!" He turned and ran off to Yuffie's room, leaving Tifa standing alone, somewhat befuddled and still dizzy with sleep. She dressed quickly and hurried to the staircase.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Tifa clung to her seat in the Tiny Bronco. Conversation was virtually impossible above the roar of the propellers, and so she let her thoughts wander to the previous evening's occurences as the plane moved towards the small, distant island.  
  
What, exactly, had happened the night before? Cloud and Aeris had quickly explained the events and Cait Sith had explained his part, but the whole thing still seemed obtuse and clouded to Tifa. True, both CLoud and Aeris were with her on the journey to the Temple of the Ancients, but the noise was incredible and neither of them seemed to be in the mood to talk. Cloud's expression was impassive and unreadable as usual, but Aeris looked pensive. Probably she was thinking about the mission, like Tifa. After all, Tifa thought cattily, she does consider this HER mission.  
  
Immediately sorry for the stray thought, Tifa winced. She's the closest thing I have to a real friend. And sometimes.sometimes I just want to make her as miserable as I am.  
  
The temple was now visible from the tiny plane. It loomed darkly on the horizon, and Tifa's train of thought turned away from Aeris and to the sight in front of her. Her musings came to a halt minutes later when they landed on the beach.  
  
The Temple of the Ancients looked exactly like something out of an adventure novel. A swaying rope bridge led to a doorway in a forbidding stone wall. Vines hung off of the wall and grew up its sides, and the Temple itself looked like an ancient burial ground. The three moved towards it, Aeris looking more and more apprehensive. She ran ahead a few times, and murmured a few comments, seemingly at random, of the Ancients and the Temple.  
  
As they approached the Temple, she noticed a man cloaked in black...just like the ones from Nibelheim. Cloud moved to him, but as he got nearer, the man seemed to move farther away. Finally, when he couldn't retreat anymore, he mumbled something and disappeared. Tifa only caught one phrase. "Black Materia...?" she mouthed, raising a questioning brow, but Cloud only shrugged. They walked to the door.  
  
Tifa had been uncertain as to how they would actually enter the Temple without the Keystone, but it turned out that that wasn't a problem at all.  
  
A dying Tseng was on the floor of the lobby. Cloud knelt by his side, and Tseng murmured a few inaudible phases to him before he died. Cloud straighted up, eyes flashing.  
  
"We're entering the Temple," he said. "Sephiroth did this." He took the Keystone from Tseng's cold hands and placed it on the altar. A doorway opened behind them, and they passed through it.  
  
Tifa stared around her, slightly shaken. They had appeared in what seemed to be an incomprehensible maze, full of staircases twisting through doorways and leading nowhere. She shook her head. No way could they get through this.  
  
Cloud was apparently thinking the same things, because Tifa could see his jaw practically drop as he, too, shook his head in bewilderment. Aeris, on the other hand, seemed much calmer than she had been before. She pointed ahead of her.  
  
"Follow him," she said, and Tifa suddenly realized that there was a small, purple creature ahead of them, who was scurrying away. Cloud nodded, and ran after him, Aeris and Tifa falling slightly behind.  
  
The three companions ran up staircases and through short tunnels, climbing vines and walls until they reached a small cave. The purple creature offered them rest, but little information. Aeris could communicate with him, and reported that he was an Ancient and a guardian of the Temple. After a brief rest, they moved on again.  
  
Another small, purple Ancient appeared in the staircase maze. Once again, Aeris insisted on following him, and they subsequently found themselves in a long, well-lit tunnel. In the centre of the tunnel was a glowing pool. They approached it and knelt.  
  
Sephiroth's and the Turks' images appeared, floating in the depths of the Mako pool. A replay of what had obviously been the Tseng's fatal encounter hovered in the water. Tifa shuddered. "And that happened just hours ago..." She looked over at Cloud and Aeris, who were looking at each other, both stunned. The usual twinge of jealousy passed through her when she realized Cloud was unaware of her presence, but she forced her mind back to their mission.  
  
Hours later, they stumbled through a door--hopefully the last door, Tifa thought. The maze, the clock room, and chasing the Ancients around was not her idea of fun. Praying that this room would end their mission, she looked over at her partners.  
  
Sephiroth was standing in front Cloud, inspecting the wall. He turned to them and smiled. 


	2. Grief

Tifa sat up straight. A dream was still floating somewhere in her mind, lingering faintly. She shook her head, trying to remember. Trees...and Cloud was talking to Aeris, she didn't remember what they said...but she was hiding from them, because there was blood on her hands again...  
  
She shook her head again, pretending it didn't bother her as much as it did. In a few minutes, it won't even be a faint memory, she told herself firmly as she dressed.  
  
They were staying in Gongaga now, in a tiny and rundown place that passed for the local inn. The lobby there hardly deserved the name, but was large enough to accommodate a silent Cloud and a raging Barret, who greeted Tifa with a grunted curse.  
  
"Aeris is gone," he enlarged. "Damn kid ran off on us!"  
  
Cloud was surprisingly calm, and already making an exit as Tifa appeared. "I told you, I know where she's gone. She's going to the City of the Ancients. We're following her."  
  
Barret turned to Tifa and shrugged. "After everything that happened yesterday, he's still so @&*!$#% cold! Alright, well, I guess we're goin' to the City of Whatever." He followed Cloud out as nonchalantly as he could, but Tifa wasn't fooled. He was worried about last night's occurrences. They all were. AVALANCHE members didn't just go into trances and turn bad-guy, and then pass out. She didn't understand at all--but for some reason, she still trusted Cloud, although she wasn't sure of how the others felt. She wasn't even sure how Cloud felt.  
  
She turned to go, trying to shake off the feeling that there was something about this whole situation that was remarkably familiar....She glanced down at her hands involuntarily, and felt a vague surprise when she saw that they were clean.  
  
The Tiny Bronco's engine roared in her ears. Heartily wishing they had better means of transportation, she clung her seat and searched the horizon for land ahead. Next to her, Yuffie was looking slightly green but determined. Tifa smiled at the girl-warrior's behavior. She was never quite sure how seriously to take her. Usually, though, she treated her the way she treated everyone else--with respect and camaraderie. After all, despite her youth Yuffie's fighting skills were valuable and very necessary.  
  
Cloud had the same inscrutable expression he usually wore, but today Tifa was getting a weird vibe from him--it was almost as if no one else existed. Or maybe it was more as if Cloud himself didn't exist. She noticed he was not scanning the horizon, like his companions. He was looking down into the shallow water in deep concentration.  
  
The plane came to a noisy halt on the beach of the Northern Continent. Cloud still looked immersed in the sandy ocean floor, so Tifa tapped him gently on the shoulder. "Cloud? Cloud! Wake up. We're getting out." She grinned at him.  
  
Cloud pretended to scowl back at her. "Who's sleeping?" He leapt off the wings and onto the sand, executing a smooth landing. He broke into a run towards the sparse-looking forest ahead of them. Tifa followed, jumping and landing face first. Blushing hotly, she ran after him, ignoring Yuffie's calls of "Wait up, guys!"  
  
By the time they reached Bone Village, the forest was somewhat denser and a whole lot darker. They walked over to the first person they saw, who gave them a quick tour of the place and a long lecture on the value of the work they were doing. Finally, Cloud managed to break through with a few questions on the forest beyond the village.  
  
The man waved off his question with a laugh. "Oh, there's nothing special there. Just a lot of trees. I wouldn't enter, though, if I were you. You'll make the locals nervous. Lot of superstition around the place." He refused to say anything else on the subject, no matter how hard they pressed him for more, so Cloud caught hold of a local woman and asked for the story.  
  
The young woman told them all about it--it contained the spirit and magic of the Ancients, but was impenetrable without the Lunar Harp. Cloud asked her about the Harp, and she promised to dig for it.  
  
"It's funny, though....A girl passed through here a little while ago, and she went into the forest, too, but she didn't have the Harp...She must be someone special, to be able to just waltz into the Sleeping Forest," said the woman speculatively.  
  
"She is," replied Cloud quietly-so quietly that Tifa decided she might have imagined it.  
  
Yuffie yawned loudly. "Can we turn in? I'm about to fall asleep." Tifa realized suddenly that she too was absolutely exhausted; it had been a long day.  
  
Cloud looked at them and nodded. "All right then."  
  
Tifa awoke in the slightly musty tent they had borrowed. Cloud was already awake, fully dressed, and holding a strangely curved harp in his lap. He smiled at her as she got out of bed, blinking sleep out of her eyes. "Yuffie and I have been up for HOURS. C'mon, slowpoke, let's get going." He left the room so she could dress.  
  
She stumbled into the brilliant morning sun a few minutes later. Yuffie grabbed her arm and propelled her towards the forest; Cloud was already waiting for them at the edge. Reluctantly, Tifa joined them and they entered the Sleeping Forest.  
  
The first feeling Tifa was hit with was a feeling of bedazzlement. The forest seemed to glow all on its own. The sharp light of the morning sun was gone, replaced by a softer, more luminous gleam that seemed to come from the forest itself, instead of the sky. But almost immediately after that, Tifa was hit with something else--a sensation of deja-vu. She had seen this place before....  
  
Cloud had stopped short. He was looking all around him in wonder. "This is it...this is where I saw her!" he breathed. "She said she was going to stop Sephiroth..."  
  
Suddenly Tifa understood--this was the place from her dream! Again she looked down at her hands as the memory came back. Cloud and Aeris talking...Aeris leaving...the blood on her hands...it rushed back. She swayed on the stop as she saw the tree she had hidden behind. It's real? she thought, dazed.  
  
Cloud ran forward, then stopped. "This way, she's this way," he said, then ran on. Yuffie looked from the running figure of Cloud to the stone-still Tifa, not understanding. Well, not understanding everything. There was one thing she thought she understood, as she followed Tifa's gaze straight ahead to the spikey-headed young man running swiftly towards Aeris.  
  
The Forgotten City was a dismal and somewhat unsettling place. The houses looked as if they had grown there, the roads looked as if no one had touched them in years--and yet they weren't overgrown. Cloud walked around the place with a timid reverence that would have been amusing, considering it was Cloud, if Tifa hadn't felt the same way--as if they were trespassing on sacred ground. Warily, the team entered a house on the right side of town that twisted in on itself as if it had been shaped out of a giant snail shell. At the top of the house were three beds. The three tired people sank onto them without a word.  
  
A few hours later, Tifa woke up to violent shaking from Cloud in the bed next to her. "What? What IS it, Cloud?"  
  
"Aeris is here. I heard her calling from the city. We're going to find her, now. She needs me." It occured to Tifa that Aeris didn't need them, apparently she just needed Cloud. She banished the thought quickly, but the deep pang of resentment and jealousy stayed.  
  
A sleepy Yuffie looked up. "We're IN the city, Cloud. She's not here. We checked yesterday, remember?" She dropped back into sleep again, but Cloud kicked her in the shins and she woke up again with a start.  
  
Cloud closed his eyes for a moment, as if he was concentrating deeply on something far away. "She's beneath us," he said finally. "Come on."  
  
He left them up there, running through the coiled house. Yuffie and Tifa looked at each other, and with a shrug, Yuffie followed him.  
  
Tifa caught up with Cloud and Yuffie along the center path. At the end of the path was what Tifa assumed was a kind of doorway. Through the doorway was a stairwell, which led down to one of the most amazing sights Tifa had ever seen.  
  
An entire city lay beneath them, at the end of a long flight of unsupported crystal stairs. The city gleamed in an invisible light, and the whole place radiated with magic. Tifa gaped, as did Yuffie, but Cloud started running down immediately.  
  
Tifa and Yuffie ran after him, somewhat frightened at the intensity on his face. They reached the bottom, and a short crystal path spread before them. At the end was a small shrine, where Aeris was knelt in prayer. Cloud advanced toward her, and Aeris looked up, smiling.  
  
Without warning, Cloud swung his sword above his head. Tifa shrieked, and heard Yuffie do the same next to her. Cloud dropped his sword to the ground with a clatter, and clutched his head in his hands. Aeris seemed still locked in her silent trance.  
  
Perhaps that's why neither of them saw Sephiroth before it was too late.  
  
Tifa did, though. She saw him shoot downwards out of nowhere. She saw his sword pierce through Aeris's stomach, and saw him pull it back out again. She watched as Aeris crumpled soundlessly into Cloud's arms. When it suddenly dawned on her what had happened, she whimpered softly and turned head down, away from the sight in front of her.  
  
Cloud looked up at Sephiroth, standing above him and laughing mirthlessly. He screamed at him in rage, but Tifa couldn't understand what he was saying. There was something far more important to her at the moment, more important to her personally, than Sephiroth or even Cloud.  
  
Her hands were covered in blood.  
  
She stared at them for a split second before she fainted dead away. 


	3. Guilt

Tifa woke seconds after she hit the ground. Yuffie was hovering anxiously over her, and when Tifa's eyes opened again, the younger girl let out a sigh of relief, followed by a long stream of babbling.  
  
Tifa tuned the ninja out and flipped herself onto her feet--though she still felt dizzy and shaky. Her hands were still dark with blood, but when she wiped them off, nothing happened. She would have been puzzled (or panicky) if there wasn't a more pressing situation on the platform ahead of her.  
  
Jenova was attacking Cloud, who was stumbling back from Aeris's body. Tifa grabbed Yuffie's arm, propelling her forward to his aid. The fight was not as difficult as it should have been, which unnerved Tifa as she struck Jenova-LIFE's fatal blow. The creature seemed to be merely a distraction, rather than a real threat, but why would Sephiroth bother keeping them alive? She shook her head. She didn't understand.  
  
But this didn't seem to worry Cloud, or even occur to him, as he bent over the still body of Aeris. For just a wild and fleeting moment, Tifa was sure he would cry, but instead he simply stared into Aeris's empty eyes. Gently, he closed the dead lids with two fingers. Gently, he cradled her head in his arms.  
  
Tifa moved past a red-eyed Yuffie to comfort Cloud. She touched his shoulder, and as she did so her other hand brushed against Aeris's lifeless form. She gasped and withdrew her hand--the blood which wasn't blood was slowly seeping up her hand to her wrist. It stopped when she pulled her hand away, but she felt a shiver of intense fear and something else--pain? grief?...guilt?--ran through her. She backed away, slowly at first, then faster. Cloud seemed not to notice in the least as she broke into a run up the crystal stairs.  
  
Tifa sat huddled up against the twisted tree. She had difficulty grasping the movement of time as she sat there, alone with her thoughts. She wasn't responsible for Aeris's death, but she had wished it and it happened. A sharp stab of guilt hit her every time she thought of the young girl with the hole through her back and stomach...Tifa shuddered.  
  
Awhile later--was it hours, or merely a few minutes later?--Cloud came up the staircase, holding Aeris in his arms and not saying a word. Yuffie was following him, looking like a lost and frightened child. Cloud moved towards the lake, but Tifa, sensing that this was somehow very important to him, stopped Yuffie.  
  
Cloud stood alone for a few moments in the shallows of the lake, gently suspending Aeris on the sapphire surface. With a look of despair and pain contorting his cold, sculpted features, he bent over and kissed Aeris's forehead. Then he stepped back, and dropped the body into the shadowy depths of the lake.  
  
Tifa longed to go to him, to hold him and tell him it would be all right. But she couldn't. She bore guilt for Aeris's death--didn't her hands show that? Wasn't wishing for her to die the same as taking that sword and running it through her? Also, she knew somewhere inside her that it wouldn't be all right, that this death had affected him somewhere too deep to be healed by time. She turned away, helpless and overcome with sadness for Cloud.  
  
The team returned to the house, each of them pretending to sleep and not managing to close their eyes without replaying the night's fatal events. Early the next morning, Cloud kicked off the sheets and got the other two out of bed.  
  
"We may never know what Aeris was trying to accomplish," he said. "But we have to continue her quest." Tifa and Yuffie nodded silently and followed him out of the snail-shell house.  
  
Tifa sat shivering in the inn that gave Icicle Inn its name, only partly from the intense cold. She had no idea where Cloud was right now, or any of the others, for that matter. The remaining eight members of AVALANCHE had met up at Icicle Inn the evening before, and Yuffie had regaled them with a recount of the train of events that had led them there. Tifa and Cloud hadn't stayed to listen; after all, they had been there and hearing the story of Aeris's death would cause pain on Cloud's part, and guilt and boredom (though she hated to admit it) on Tifa's part. In the morning, when Cloud had left to explore the small town, Tifa hadn't even bothered to offer to go with him. She had to think things over today, by herself. Consequently, she had no idea what was going on outside her hotel room. She was getting up to brush out her hair when a soft knock sounded on her door. She opened the door, and to her surprise Vincent was standing there, framed in the doorway. She mumbled a "Come in," trying to get over her shock at Vincent's appearance there. When was the last time she had spoken to him alone? When was the last time anyone had spoken to him alone? Vincent walked into the room Tifa was sharing with Yuffie. "I noticed you didn't go with Cloud this morning," he said, sitting in the stiff chair shoved in a corner by the window. Tifa nodded. "Is there a reason for that?" he asked, looking searchingly at her. Tifa almost replied "No," but it would be such a glaring lie that she felt there was no point in saying it. Instead, she held out her hands silently. They were still stained with dark red blood. Vincent looked at them, puzzled, and shook his head. "I don't understand." Tifa laughed mirthlessly-or was it a sob? "Don't you? I do. It's guilt. It's dripping, staining, ugly guilt, because I loved her too and still I wanted her dead. I wanted her gone. But she was a friend, a companion, and so good, so good.This is her blood." She stuck her hands out again. Vincent glanced at them. Tifa heard a quick intake of breath. "I see nothing, Tifa. I'm sorry. There's nothing there." 


	4. Peace

"What?" she gasped. She sat down, hard, on the bed. "But...It's there, I can see it..." Vincent sensed her rising hysterics and slapped her once across the face. Tifa rocked back, but looked up at him, calmer. "Is that why you didn't go with Cloud today? Do you feel responsible for Aeris?" "Yes," she whispered. He smiled at her, his expression full of understanding and pity. Tifa was surprised again, she had doubted, in the past, that Vincent even had the ability to smile. For a long time, they were both silent, then he spoke again. "Every single one of us has a reason for being here, Tifa. What's yours?" Tifa shook her head, not comprehending. Vincent realized he hadn't made himself clear and tried again. "Barret's saving the planet for his daughter, Marlene. Yuffie wants to rebuild her hometown. Cid wants to beat Shinra and send himself into space. What about you? Why did you bother to come along?" Tifa understood now. "You mean, what's my motivation? I'm a member of AVALANCHE. I've been a member since I found Barret and bailed him out of jail four years ago." Vincent nodded patiently. "Yes, I know that. What I want to know is why you're here, now. Why you stayed with AVALANCHE, instead of simply running the most successful bar in Midgar." Tifa considered the question. It was a fair question, she admitted. Even if Vincent didn't really have a right to know her answer, it was something she had never thought about before. She realized though, that she didn't really need to think hard. "My father was killed by Sephiroth five years ago. I promised myself I'd fight him, and Shinra, and all senseless killing, for my father's sake." "Would your father appreciate this particular form of revenge?" She hesitated, shook her head. "Now that you mention it...no. He would have wanted me to be happy." "So--you're not happy?" inquired Vincent curiously. "No....no...I guess not. I'm not happy at all. But........" She let the sentence trail off, but Vincent understood--but Cloud was here for her. He felt so much pity for this little girl who seemed so lost. "Maybe you should try being happy for awhile, Tifa. It might be a pleasant change." "Are you happy?" Tifa shot out, but immediately she regretted it. She saw that her words had inflicted pain on him, and she also saw that she had been right--he was as unhappy as she. There was a difference in their unhappiness, though--hers had a possibility of being changed, even erased. His was buried in a grave in Nibelheim. "I'm sorry, Vincent, I'm sorry...you're right. I should try to be happy." She picked up the small bag that contained the little money she had and her change of clothes--all she owned in the world. She walked towards the door. Vincent didn't try to stop her, or even look surprised.  
  
Tifa knelt by the small grave. She brushed away the snow that was gathering there, but ignored the flakes that were swirling around her. She traced the inscription-Joshua L. Lockheart III, and beneath it, Mariah Ureth Lockheart. She had avoided this graveyard since her father died; she thought it would be a sign of weakness to return to it. She knew better now.  
  
The graveyard was located behind her house in Nibelheim. It was less of a graveyard, really, and more of a garden, especially during the summer. But it was early winter now, and the snow-covered trees and stones created a respectful hush all around her. She ran her hand over the smooth, cold head stone in front of her, letting it drop to her side, into the drifts of snow already gathering around it. She rose to her feet, and laid the flowers she had brought on the ground. As she placed them down, she noticed something- her hands were clean again. Rather than startling her, she felt a deep sense of freedom and justice, as if she had known what would happen all along, as if this was right. She turned to pick up her bag from the bench where she had left it, but someone already had.  
  
Cloud was sitting on the bench, holding the little duffel bag on his lap. He smiled slightly sheepishly. "Hi."  
  
She smiled back. "Hi."  
  
He stood up and handed over her bag. "Vincent told me you'd be here. I thought maybe you were leaving us." He laughed, to show he didn't mean it, but a flicker on Tifa's face made him look hard at her. "You aren't leaving, are you? You're coming back to fight?"  
  
She looked at him. "I didn't know till now, Cloud...but that's right. I can't come back now. I'm going to try being happy for awhile. I'm going to stay here until I figure out what I want."  
  
Cloud looked completely lost. "I thought you were happy. Why this sudden change of heart?"  
  
Tifa laughed lightly. "You don't know how wonderful your choice of words was, Cloud. I did have a change of heart, and because of it I can't stay on with AVALANCHE. Not right now, anyway, not until I figure things out on my own."  
  
"But...why?" Cloud still looked blank.  
  
Tifa smiled. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Because I don't love you," she whispered in his ear.  
  
A/N: And so it ends-or does it? This fic is actually a revamp of my first ever fanfiction. I have tried to polish it up-fixed some areas that were glaringly bad, reorganized it, made some structural changes, but in the end I still feel it reads amateurishly and I can't say I really like it. However, I do like the sequel (which is not complete, but which is partially posted). It's called What Dreams May Come. Check it out. Thanks for reading. - Desdemona 


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